Water Baptism

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.Mark 16:1

Is baptism important? It was important to Jesus. In fact it was so important that it was His last commission in Matthew 28:19, and even Jesus, Himself, was baptized. Now that we know baptism is vital to becoming a Christian, is it important how we are baptized? The answer is YES! Why we baptize:

Is sprinkling ok, or do I need to be immersed in water?  

The word “Baptize” is a Greek word, meaning, “to immerse.” John baptized in the Jordan River and the disciples baptized in bodies of water. Thus, proper baptism is to completely immerse into water. Sprinkling and other forms of baptism came along after the Bible was written. They are not Scriptural.    

An example of this is when Phillip went to the eunuch from Ethiopia. The eunuch believed Phillip’s testimony of the Lord Jesus, and then asked to be baptized in a body of water near them. They both went down into the water, and Phillip immersed him (Acts 8:38).

If Jesus commissioned His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and to teach the people to observe all things that He commanded, then why didn’t any of them baptize that way? Every baptism recorded after this commission was in the Name of Jesus Christ.  

The answer is simple: 

Jesus commanded them to baptize in a Name, not in a title. “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” are titles. 

For example: are you a son or daughter? Is your name “Son” or “Daughter?” Your parents might call you “son” or “daughter,” but you have a name, and so does God. The answer is simple: Jesus Christ is God, and He is not three separate deities. He is One. Thus the Scripture says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” (Eph 4:5), and “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ” (I John 5:7)

Does it really matter that we are baptized according to what the Bible teaches? Or does any baptism work? 

It mattered so much to the apostles that they re-baptized those who were not baptized correctly, even those who were baptized by the greatest of all the prophets: John the Baptist.Soon after he received the Holy Ghost in the upper room, Peter preached a sermon about the Deity of the Lord Jesus. The people were so moved by his sermon that they asked, “What shall we do?” Peter, now filled with the Holy Ghost, answered,

 “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (Acts 2:14-39) 

And with those words, we see the formula for receiving the same Holy Ghost that Peter and the apostles had at the day of Pentecost. 

The Book of Acts (Chapter 19) gives us another, very clear, example of this formula in action when Paul came to a group of people in Ephesus who had already accepted Jesus as their Saviour. They told him of their conversion, and he asked, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” They knew Jesus, but they did not know about the Holy Ghost. Paul, knowing the right formula, asked, “Unto what then were ye baptized?” They responded that they had been baptized in a different way, according to the way John the Baptist baptized. Paul then commanded them to be baptized again, this time in the Name of the Lord Jesus. What happened next? You guessed it; they were filled with the Holy Ghost. 

So the burning question should be: 

If I’ve been baptized in the titles of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, then do I need to be baptized over again?

The Book of Acts says you do. After that, you have the Promise that you WILL receive the Holy Ghost. Who can baptize: 

That's why you come here, that's why you come to Christ, you are feeding on His Word. And if you can have a time like this, here, just by His expressed attributes, what will it be when we come into His Presence? Oh, it'll be wonderful! Each one of you has the right to heal the sick, lay your hands upon the sick. Each one of you has the right to baptize.